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James Heller
James Heller was a former US Marine Sergeant and the second Blacklight being. Following his attempted suicide mission against Alex Mercer, Mercer infected Heller with his variant of the virus. Driven by a powerful need for vengeance, he set out into the city to uncover the truth behind Alex Mercer, Blackwatch, and the second outbreak of the Blacklight virus. History Early life James Heller was a Sergeant in the Marines Corps before his infection. He lived in Manhattan, New York with his wife ColletteBlackwatch report and daughter Amaya.Official Facebook page After the end of his military tour, Heller wanted to return home and live with his family while maintaining a small business in the city. However, there was a devastating viral outbreak in the city while he was serving abroad. Second Outbreak Shortly before his scheduled return to the states, Heller received a call from his wife, who informed him of the outbreak and told him that Blackwatch had quarantined the area. Heller reassured her that he would return the next day and told her not to worry, but when he arrived in the city he discovered that the Blacklight infection had ravaged all of Manhattan and his family had been killed. When Blackwatch claimed that a former scientist named Alex Mercer was responsible for the outbreak and had been spotted in the Red Zone, Heller volunteered for patrols in the infected Red Zone, hoping for a chance to find Mercer and kill him for the deaths of his family.March 2011 issue The Prototype Encounter with Mercer Patrols into the Red Zone were more suicide missions than legitimate military operations. As such, Blackwatch tended to delegate such missions to the United States Marine Corps and volunteers. On one such mission, Heller and his unit were on patrol through the Red Zone when their Armored Personnel Carrier was hit by a car hurtling through the air. Heller emerged from the wreckage as the sole survivor of the event only to see Alex Mercer drop into the area. Mercer did not initially notice Heller and started to inspect the corpses. While he had his back turned, Heller charged him and slit his throat, but Mercer regenerated and shrugged him off without so much as flinching. The marine recovered and managed to stab him multiple times only to be thrown back effortlessly. Impressed by his tenacity, Mercer slowly retreated deeper into the Red Zone, seemingly amused by Heller's frenzied pursuit. During the chase, Heller was forced to dodge one of Blackwatch's patrol helicopters as Mercer kicked it out of the sky. Eventually Heller barely evaded a rampaging Goliath, only to be cornered by a Brawler Hunter. James managed to kill the Brawler using his combat knife. Mercer, who had been watching the entire time, confronted Heller again. The Marine blindly charged him only to be pinned to a wall by Mercer despite his efforts to cut himself free. Alex Mercer then infected Heller with his strain of the Blacklight virus and departed just as another helicopter arrived on the scene to extract the now infected marine. Contact with Gentek After his encounter with Mercer, Heller was taken into custody by Blackwatch, where Dr. Koenig attempted to learn how Heller had survived despite his body being flooded with the virus. As Heller struggled to gain consciousness, Col. Rooks and Lt. Riley ordered Heller's destruction through immolation. Koenig tried to delay the order by insisting on a few tests to collect data. Heller awoke surrounded by infected Walkers. When he displayed signs of abilities similar to Mercer, Col. Rooks once again ordered him burned. However, Heller survived the fire and escaped the facility. After freeing himself from the lab, Heller was once again confronted by Mercer. He explained that he had chosen to infect Heller because he wanted James' help fighting Blackwatch. He forced Heller to consume one of the Blackwatch soldiers that knew about the viral outbreak in Hope, Idaho and Blackwatch's part in the virus' development, claiming that he was not responsible for the current outbreak, that it was Gentek and Blackwatch conducting bio-weapon tests. Reluctantly, Heller agreed to foil Blackwatch's operations throughout New York. Restoring Faith Sometime after escaping from Gentek's facility Heller was confronted by Blackwatch soldiers in the Yellow Zone. During this skirmish, Heller discovered his ability to use other humans as a disguise to escape. Due to his familiarity with the zone, Heller was able to track down Luis Guerra, a priest who was familiar with the Heller family. After finding him, James explained what he had been through the previous night and requested Guerra's assistance in fighting Blackwatch. Unfortunately, Father Guerra had lost all hope of resisting Blackwatch's hold in the zone. To restore the priest's faith, Heller foiled one of Blacktwatch's operations to study a Brawler's behavior and considerably reduced Blackwatch's hold in the Yellow Zone. Guerra's will to fight was rejuvenated by Heller's actions and he agreed to help him. Scientist Hunt Guerra then aided Heller in his hunt for Colonel Rooks by helping him hack into Blacknet, which allowed Heller to eventually track down Rooks. However, Heller decided not to kill the Blackwatch leader because he realized that he could get information from Rooks and use it to disrupt Blackwatch operations. After consuming many Gentek scientists, Heller eventually located Dr Koenig, who convinced him that he wanted to help and directed Heller to Project Orion, a Blackwatch super soldier program. Heller successfully stopped Project Orion but, after consuming the lead scientist, discovered that Koenig was trying to get him killed. Koenig contacted Blackwatch to evacuate him, but Heller killed the soldiers guarding the base where he was hiding. During the evacuation, Koenig boarded one of the gunships and ordered the pilot to attack Heller instead of evacuating. However, Heller destroyed the gunship and tried to consume Koenig, only for the scientist to display superhuman abilities and announce himself as one of Mercer's Evolved. Koenig told Heller that he served Alex Mercer as an inside source at Gentek to get information. He then began to mock Heller, claiming that he wanted to prove to Mercer that he should be his second in command, and to do that, he had to kill Heller. Koenig then attacked Heller but the latter was able to overpower and consumed Koenig, gaining the knowledge that Mercer had spies in both Gentek and Blackwatch. An irritated Alex Mercer then confronted Heller and confirmed that he had people within Blackwatch and Gentek. He explained that he and Heller were to lead the attack on Blackwatch and Gentek in order to wipe them out. Heller noted that Mercer made no mention of the virus' destruction, to which Mercer dismissively replied that it would be destroyed as well. Despite his assurances, Heller realized that Mercer had lied to him and went to find Father Guerra in the Green Zone. The Truth In the Green Zone, Heller met with Father Guerra who showed him a devastating piece of evidence, footage of Alex Mercer entering Pennsylvania Station, the site of the first outbreak, and releasing the virus a second time. Heller was enraged as he realized that Mercer was responsible for the entire infection, including the deaths of his wife and daughter. However, he realized that he had a lead on Mercer's plans. Using Koenig's memories, he discovered that Sabrina Galloway, the CFO of Gentek, was one of Mercer's Evolved and set off to find her. Whitelight When Heller first confronted Galloway, she bartered for her life with the locations of Mercer's other Evolved subordinates. Sabrina told Heller that, despite her ability to detect other Evolved, an Evolved named Roland and Heller himself could evade her ability. She assisted Heller on a mission to find Roland, informing him that the Evolved was disguised as a Gentek VIP in need of extraction, and tracking him to a lair after his initial escape, where Heller successfully consumed him. Guerra discovered that Gentek was planning to release an apparent cure to the Virus and sent Heller to investigate as it seemed too good to be true. Heller discovered that the leaders of the project were all Evolved and hunted them down one by one. After consuming Dr. Archer, he realized that the Whitelight cure had been contaminated with Mercer's Blood culture in order to spread the Blacklight virus once it had been released, a reversal of its supposed purpose. After seeing the effects of Whitelight on several Blackwatch soldiers, turning into Evolved, Heller was determined to foil the plot. Blackwatch, seeing the effects of Whitelight themselves, called off its release. Guerra then located the Whitelight facility and Heller headed there in order to prevent if from being released. Mercer confronted him and attempted to kill him. Surprisingly, his attempt to consume Heller only resulted in the destruction of Mercer's hand due to Heller's uniquely resilient DNA. Mercer fled the scene, distracting Heller by sending a Goliath to destroy the Whitelight containers and release it. After Heller stopped the Goliath, he received a call from Guerra, who told him that the infected were attacking him. Heller rushed to Guerra but was too late to save him. Something to Live for A grieving Heller then heard Guerra's contact Athena attempting to contact Guerra on his phone, but when she saw Heller she realized that Guerra was dead and told him to come to the Red Zone, revealing herself to be Dana Mercer. She told him she had information about his daughter. Heller was shocked that his daughter might still be alive and went to the Red Zone as soon as he could. When he met Dana, Heller immediately wanted to find Amaya, but Dana managed to convince him to save the city from her brother and Blackwatch while she handled the search for his daughter. After disrupting the plans of both sides, Heller went to track down his daughter but he eventually lost his lead and reached a dead end. Rooks, having realized that Heller had been impersonating Riley and only wanted his daughter back, then contacted Heller and showed him that he had Heller's daughter held captive. Ignoring Dana's warnings, Heller attacked the Gentek building head on. Once inside, he confronted Rooks and two Blackwatch soldiers. Surprising Heller, Rooks shot both Blackwatch soldiers and told Heller to take his daughter and leave the city as a "favor". However, Sabrina Galloway reached Amaya before Heller could get into the room and kidnapped her, delivering a challenge from Mercer as she departed. Murdering His Maker Alex Mercer and James Heller faced off on top of a destroyed building in the Red Zone. Alex's Evolved, including Galloway, accompanied him. Heller demanded that Alex return his daughter, but Alex refused and spoke of his plans to replace humanity with "one mind and one body" and to turn Amaya into the "Mother of the New World". Heller finally faced Alex after the latter consumed his Evolved, including Sabrina Galloway, to become more powerful. After a brutal fight, Heller began to get the upper hand. Mercer used all of his offensive powers against Heller, only for Heller to sever or rip off his arms each time. At first Mercer regenerated from the wounds and taunted Heller, but he began to weaken after several repeated amputations. Eventually Mercer was too weak to continue fighting. He showed no anger or concern for his imminent demise, smirking and welcoming Heller to the top of the food chain just before Heller consumed him. Having become dramatically more powerful as a result of consuming Mercer, Heller unleashed a massive barrage of tendrils that allowed him to consume many (if not all) of the infected beings in the Red Zone, effectively ending the second outbreak of the Blacklight virus. Using Mercer's memory, Heller was able to locate and rescue Maya and Dana from the bank vault Mercer had locked them in. Her father's infection made Maya frightened of him, much to James' dismay. The three then looked over New York from a rooftop. James began to walk away from Dana and Maya, feeling that he no longer had a place in Maya's life. However, Amaya stopped him, apparently having gotten over her fear of his infection, and they embraced. Powers & Abilities Prior to his infection by Alex Mercer, Heller was competent and skilled in battle as a result of his military training, demonstrated in his slaying of a Brawler using only a combat knife. He is proficient with the majority of military weapons, ranging from standard assault rifles and light machine guns to miniguns rocket launchers. The abilities granted by his viral infection are divided into 5 categories - Offensive, Defensive, Locomotion, Predator and Power-Specialist. Physical Prowess As he was infected with the same DX-1118 strain as Alex, he has much the of same superhuman and shapeshifting powers, as well as others that he has evolved himself. * Shapeshifting: Heller's Blacklight infection has granted him the ability to shapeshift, allowing him to alter his appearance and fashion his body into weapons, much like Alex Mercer, but with some differences in appearance. An example would be the resemblance of his Blade to a giant combat knife and his viral flesh possessing a more reddish hue. His Whipfist has small razor-like blades across its spine-like form. Heller's evolved Hammerfists allow him to perform area attacks. He possesses the same consumption/assimilation abilities inherent in all infected creatures that allow him to take on the form and memories of any creature he consumes. Unlike Alex Mercer, James doesn't possess the Musclemass power, instead gaining the Tendril power. Also unlike Mercer, Heller's Shield power evolved so as to produce two shields simultaneously that protect him from multiple angles. * Superhuman Speed & Agility: He possesses the same inhuman agility, speed, dexterity, and gliding (via biomass ejection and manipulation) abilities as Alex, allowing him to jump to great heights, outrun vehicles, run up walls, and perform parkour maneuvers not possible to those with normal physiology. * Endurance & Healing Factor: Heller is equal to Alex in stamina and regenerative abilities, allowing him to heal within moments from any wound and to withstand intense damage that kill normal humans many times over without fatality. * Superhuman Sense: Heller has developed a mysterious yet potent viral sonar sense. This sixth sense allows him to find a target in a crowded populated area. * Superhuman Strength: Due to his inhuman strength, Heller is capable of lifting vehicles, dismantling weapons from armored vehicles, overpowering virally-enhanced Marines and dismembering infected creatures. Infection Powers Heller can manipulate the Blacklight virus for his own advantage in the form of a Biobomb. He is able to implant his targets with a special strain of virus, which mutates the target's body rapidly, eventually ending with a barrage of tendrils erupting from the infected body which impale and pull objects within range to the victim at the epicenter. Heller can also hurl victims after implanting them with a Biobomb, activating the ability on impact and destroying everything within range. Offensive Powers Heller can form his biomass into a variety of weapons, mostly slicing or crushing tools. In combat, he either uses biomass to augment his strength or create various blades and blunt weapons.Prototype 2 Defensive Powers Heller can use two defensive powers, guarding him against enemy attacks and weapons, much like Alex, though he is capable of producing two shields whereas Alex could only produce one. Personality and Characteristics Before he lost his family, James Heller had a joyful life. His relationships with Colette and Amaya were close and loving. Upon their death, Heller became a changed man: he grew grim, rude, cynical and impatient—a dark shadow of his earlier personality. Heller’s goals rarely or even convincingly exceed his own personal desires to destroy those responsible for his family's death and protect his daughter. However unlike Mercer he does occasionally take the civilian cost into account, for example when he releases Brawlers from Blackwatch captivity he will attempt to kill them before they do what he calls the "wrong kind of damage". Another example is when Heller observed in disgust as Blackwatch troops forced captured Civilians into a base, where they would be killed and consumed by Juggernauts minutes later. Despite all this, he appeared to be quite willing to leave NYZ to Blackwatch as long as he was able to leave with his daughter. However, he developed sympathy for Colonel Rooks after he realized Rooks also had a family and daughter. He is also a technophobe, and seems to really hate computers, an example being in one of the early missions when he tried to access a Blackwatch Computer and began to grow more frustrated with each attempt to access it. Heller dislikes killing Marines or Civilians, if he consumes either he'd try to do it quickly and painlessly whereas by contrast he makes no effort to avoid making consuming Blackwatch or Gentek personnel painful due to his contempt for them. Appearance Heller has a tall, muscular build from his time in the Military and a shaved head. He has a small scar over his left eyebrow of unknown origin. Similar to Alex Mercer, his "clothing" is actually Biomass capable of mimicking normal clothes. Upon escaping from Koenig's lab, his usual attire consists of a light grey undershirt, a simple black hoodie with a red interior, a dark olive jacket with a protruding collar, black fingerless gloves, a brown leather belt, dark blue jeans and combat boots. Since becoming infected by Mercer, the large tattoo on his back and arms glows bright red-orange and can be seen even under his clothing. Trivia * James Heller was also called "It" instead of "He" by a pilot of a Helicopter (just like Mercer and Pariah) in the teaser trailer. This is one thing the three have in common. ** Probably because they can shapeshift into male and female instead of having a specific sex. * The EGMi hotspot at page 14 says Heller was at war overseas in Afghanistan, while Prototype at Facebook says he was in Iraq. * Heller's Whipfist appears similar to the dagger tail from Prince of Persia. * James is affectionately called "Jimmy" by his wife. * Radical sent out a "Mystery Package" to dreadcentral.com in early 2011. Within its contents were posters and other documents, including a personal bio of James Heller. The bio indicates that James Heller is 35 years old, weighs 225 lbs (102 kg), and stands at 6' 2" (1.88 m). However, this same document names his daughter Wendy instead of Amaya. * Dr. Harry Gutierrez was another individual who has said Jimmy to James as when he said he has heard so much about James and in which lead to the death battle between James and the bodyguards and Dr. Gutierrez. Gallery Heller jacket concept 1.jpg|Tattoo concept art. Heller jacket concept 2.jpg|Heller's jacket concept art. P2 Sargeant Heller.jpg|Heller in his military gear. Proto II (4).jpg|Heller bearing his Claws. Proto II (6).jpg|Heller with a missile launcher. Proto II (1).jpg|Tendrils used against a Juggernaut. Proto II (2).jpg|James Heller's Whipfist. T Heller Blackwatch.png|An infected Heller, walking past a Blackwatch soldier. LairTendril.jpg|A group of Infected killed using the tendrils power. P2hellerconcepts.jpg|Heller's early concept arts. Heller Burnedt-rough-001b-w.jpg|Concept art for test subject Heller Heller-millitary-rough-001-w.jpg|Concept art of pre-infected Heller Promotional Images Egm246-FINAL.jpg|The cover of the EGM march magazine. PROTOYPE-2-POSTER.jpg|Prototype 2 Poster Who needs luck.jpg|St. Patricks Day Image Facebook app promotion.jpg|Wallpaper from //Blacknet a Facebook application. HellerMontagePoster.jpg|Full body Poster. P2p3.jpg|James Heller's Bio sent to Dread Central. P2 My Name Is Heller Poster.jpg|'My name is Heller' Poster P2-Heller WP.png P2-MercerHeller WP2.png P2-MercerHeller WP1.png Notes and reference Category:Characters Category:Prototype 2 Characters Category:Infected Characters Category:Family Heller Category:Male